I celebrated my fifth year as a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant® by entering into the Master Celebrant course.

I got henna for the first time.

We had some SCUBA fun.

I went to NYC to celebrate the start of Marriage Equality in NY.

Frankie
passed away.

I
attended a social media conference in NYC.

We had
an earthquake, and a hurricane, and our basement flooded, all in about a
week.

I tore my cornea and learned a few weeks later that I should stay away from over the counter eye drops because…

They might trigger something called Aides Eye—which looks a lot like an aneurism.

I
learned that my EMT husband knows which local hospitals have fully staffed
MRIs and the shortest routes to them. (I went to the eye doctor and it
turned out not to be an aneurism, but it was good information to have.)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Back when the Wookie and I were in
the early days of our courtship, two strangers emailing each other via
Match.com, he asked me what kind of food I like. I responded with a long and
diverse list of cuisines ranging from Italian to Spanish, Chinese to
Vietnamese. Wookie’s response was simply, “wow, you have eclectic tastes!”

My friend made a similar comment when we were at dinner the other night. I had just ordered pasta made with (I think it was) squid ink. She said I was adventurous and I commented that, as I had no known food allergies, I felt I could afford to be.

(Yeah, I know it's an octopus, not a squid, but this sculpture outside of Cliff House in San Francisco was the closest I had to a squid.)

Even as I let the words slip from
my mouth, I knew I was tempting the Fates. So really, it should have come as no
surprise to me when, roughly five hours later, I found myself making sacrifice
at the porcelain throne.

It was at that point that Wookie
walked in and declared, “no more ink pasta.”

You see, I’d had it before. And
while all I remember from the experience is thinking that I didn’t like the
consistency very much, Wookie remembers that night ending in a similar
late-night serenade to the gods of plumbing.

Apparently, there is something I
cannot eat.

It’s not a huge loss really, after
giving the dish two tries in two different restaurants, it was tasty, but not a
favorite anyway. Though I did prefer having a short list of things I would not
eat and nothing in the “can’t eat it” column.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

So the Wookie and I took the Mighty Jeepster to see our friend Rich this week. We ended up the evening in a place with all you can eat sushi.

I had envisioned a buffet setup, but when we arrived, we were given menus, a slip of paper, and a pencil. On the slips were printed the names of the various types of sushi rolls and tempura available.

Wookie looked at the menu and headed next door for pizza. (He rejoined us later for dessert.) Rich and I started checking off what we wanted. I had several items checked off, some with 2 rather than 1. Rich reminded me that each 1 was 6 pieces and I changed most of those 2s to 1s.

After courses of miso soup and salad, with that lovely ginger dressing that sushi places use, the waitress put this in front of us...

I thought for sure it had to be what both Rich and I both ordered...until the waitress said that another boat was on its way. It took me a while to stop laughing so I could eat.

In the end, I had to admit defeat. This is as far as I got.

(The much more reasonable looking plates at the top of the shot are Rich's order. He was short a few pieces, but it wasn't the barge I wound up with.)

I think I need to seriously work on my math skills before I go back...but I will be back!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

He's noted that I returned from the Road Trip a bit out of phase because, while I was away, I was torn between having a good time and worrying about what was going on at home.

It's taken me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things. In the mean time, we've been drying out the house and I've been getting ready to teach the Celebrant Institute Class of 2012 in November.

I did promise more on the road trip though, so here are a few more photos from the trip and the last couple of weeks.

On the New Mexico/ Arizona leg of our trip, we passed many of these on Old Route 66.

We debated over what they might be. I finally settled on wings for gliders. As it turns out, they are for windmills. (Wookie knew at first glance of the photo!) There were a great many wind farms along the way.

Friday, October 7, 2011

I can't believe it is Friday, already. I still have a few things to say about the road trip, but since I've been back, life has been a blur of errands and playing catch-up. I am exhausted and when I get tired... well, let's just say that verbal communication isn't always my strong suit.

Today, while looking cameras with Wookie, I argued that the new Nikon Coolpix has more pickles than the one he gave me last year.

In over my head.

Back in my early 30s, if you told me what I'd be doing today, I would have said you were crazy.

Back then, I was stuck in a dead-end job, contemplating life as the crazy lady with cats. Now I'm married to my very best friend, I have a day job I like, I work from home, run my own business on the side, I teach, and I get paid to fool around on the internet. (Oh and I still have the cats!)

I'm juggling more than I ever thought I'd handle. I'm often in over my head and I'm loving it!

When my husband taught me to scuba dive, I found out that some of the coolest things to see are in the first 30 feet of water, where you can still see the light above, but you're deep enough to be completely immersed in another world.

This blog is a love letter to my life. Who knew being in over my head could be so much fun?